Evolution

As is true of most other chiefly herbaceous orders of flowering plants, Caryophyllales has left virtually no fossil record. Any evidence of phylogeny, therefore, must come primarily from a consideration of the living members of the order. The morphological features of the order are varied and often unique. The origin of Caryophyllales, in consequence, was largely obscure and a matter of speculation before the advent of DNA evidence. Phylogenetic relationships of Caryophyllales based on DNA indicate a remote position in the eudicot flowering plants, perhaps related to the family Dilleniaceae.

The coloured pigments in Caryophyllales are of some evolutionary interest. In most flowering plants, colours ranging from nearly red to nearly blue are dependent on the presence of chemical compounds called anthocyanins; colours ranging from yellow to reddish orange are dependent on compounds called anthoxanthins. A distinct but parallel group of pigments, known as betalains (betacyanins and betaxanthins) occurs only in some families of Caryophyllales. Species that possess betalains never contain anthocyanins and vice versa. Because the betalains are apparently restricted to this order, their presence has assumed some taxonomic significance as perhaps linking all families with betalains. It now seems unlikely that the presence of anthocyanins is the primitive character in the order, however, and that there exists a more complicated evolutionary history of the origins of betalains and anthocyanins.

Within Caryophyllales, it is now clear that the family Rhabdodendraceae from South America is the first diverging lineage within the order. The four carnivorous families in Caryophyllales (Dioncophyllaceae, Drosophyllaceae, Droseraceae, and Nepenthaceae) are closely related and suggest a single origin of carnivory within the order. However, within the carnivorous lineage, a diversity of insect capture methods have evolved, including pitfall or pitcher traps (Nepenthaceae), sticky flypaper (Dioncophyllaceae, Drosophyllaceae, Droseraceae), and steel traps (the Venus’s-flytrap genus Dionaea of the family Droseraceae). Related to the carnivorous families are four other families, namely Frankeniaceae, Tamaricaceae, Plumbaginaceae, and Polygonaceae. The first two are strongly halophytic (salt-loving) families and share the presence of salt-excreting glands.

Active traps of the Venus’s-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), a carnivorous plant. If depressed …

Two families endemic to Madagascar, Asteropeiaceae and Physenaceae, form a well-supported pair and in turn are related to the rest of Caryophyllales—a group often referred to as the core Caryophyllales. True petals have been lost within the core group, and any “petals” present (as in Caryophyllaceae) are considered to be derived from stamens instead. Relationships among these core group families have been difficult to determine. Amaranthaceae, Caryophyllaceae, and Achatocarpaceae appear to be closely related families, as do Aizoaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Lophiocarpaceae, Barbeuiaceae, and Sarcobataceae. A final cluster of families that are succulent and possess CAM photosynthesis includes Cactaceae, Portulacaceae, and Basellaceae.